If you attended last week’s Faculty and Staff Information Fair (Thursday, February 12), you probably saw—and may even have signed up for—the LLC’s Book Holding Campaign. Book Holding is a social media project (#BookHolding) designed to promote reading awareness and to improve the Library’s flagging circulation rates.

It’s easy to participate, and you may even win something! You simply take a picture of yourself (a “selfie”) with one of your favorite books. The LLC will post these photos on its blog, via its social media channels, and in and around its building.

By the end of the year, the LLC hopes to have book-holding selfies from every department on campus as well as from a number of student groups. We’re also hoping to develop a meme of our own—one that rivals “sign holding”—and represents reading as a form of activism.

First Prize – LLC

Second Prize – LLC

Third Prize – LLC

The top-prize winners from the “People of the Library Learning Commons” photos are: 1) Kristol Cummings for The Klingon Dictionary, 2) Pam Newberg for Lady Knight, and 3) Deena Kennell for Gone with the Wind.

To participate, your photo should be

1) a selfie or “selfie-esque”
2) a clear, focused shot of you and the book’s title that is oriented vertically (a 2:3 aspect ratio is typical for headshots)
3) at least 1200 x 1600 pixels in size (larger is better)
4) in GIF, JPG, PNG, or PSD formats.

Attach your photo to an email and send it to shines@csc.edu. In your email, feel free to include a few sentences that explain why you might recommend the book.